Monday, September 24, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for September 25, 2012

Your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

I’ve received a few interesting pieces lately from readers, but without links, so I cannot include them. Usually just don’t have time to search, alas. Dealt with over 300 e-mails to do the blog Sunday evening. But with so many great links today, that’s okay. ~Bob.

Resources
For those who want further information about the topics covered in this blog, I recommend the following sites. I will add to this as I find additional good sources.

Worth Reading: Bush-Soyer Doctrine - Why Not? by Andy Weddington
Excerpt: With due recognition to Count Alfred Korzybski, father of the discipline called General Semantics which includes discussion of man as a time-binder, today's comment is a blend of mostly truth and candor with a dash or two of humor and a spit of satire ... It's a simple doctrine. It's an easily understood doctrine. It's a doctrine for a complex world - easily translated into any language. It's a doctrine for the ages - knowing the friend/foe list is ever-changing. Only the faces change - the philosophy for keeping the United States of America, and our friends, safe and secure does not.

Excerpt: 1. Anyone responsible for three hundred years of slavery would have to be a lot older than you and me. 2. There has to be some genetics in “racism’s” DNA, some DNA in its gene pool, or it just isn’t racism. 3. Racism could be eliminated in the United States if we could just eliminate the white liberals who so plainly depend on it so much and do so much to keep it going. (Kratman is the terrific author of several military science fiction books and the scary, near-future Countdown series that I’m hooked on. ~Bob.

Pakistani Minister: $100k For Filmmaker's Head
Excerpt: A Pakistani cabinet minister has offered a $100,000 reward for the death of the person behind the anti-Islam video made in the US that has angered Muslims around the world, even suggesting that Taliban and al-Qaeda militants could carry out the killing. (This will draw almost no notice from our government or the MSM, who would stroke out if an Israeli minister offered a reward for killing the author of any of the hundreds of blood-libel, anti-Semitic cartoons and articles that routinely appear in the media in Islamic lands, sanctioned, unlike this film, by the government. Or a Christian offered a reward for the murder of the “artist” who created “piss Christ.” Obama would speak out strongly about any of that. This? Not a whisper. ~Bob.)

Progressive 'Elites' Show Sensitivity Only To Islam. By Brent Bozell
Excerpt: The “enlightened” who claim a firm grip on the steering wheel of Western civilization see the future through a lens in which man becomes ever more perfectible as outdated religious creeds fade away. And thus the irony. For all the contempt these cosmopolitans show for religion, there is one faith beyond public rebuke. Call it Islamic exceptionalism.

Canada Surges As Obama Sinks America. By Conrad Black
http://times247.com/articles/canada-surges-as-obama-sinks-america#ixzz27OTRnD7G
Excerpt: If this administration is re-elected, Canada, as it has for the entire mighty spectacle of the inexorable rise of the United States, will have the ring-side seat for a disaster. Prudent, hesitant Canada, ran 14 federal government surpluses in a row. We are the pigs in the brick house — it isn’t a heroic position, neither daring nor stylish, but Canadians are peering through the portals of their stout solid home, transfixed and astonished.
Excerpt: During the Republican Convention, Democrats took every available moment of air time to count the women’s vote. “Republicans are anti-women,” they changed. And they frequently brought up this oft-repeated nugget: For doing essentially the same jobs, men get paid more than women. That claim is often combined with the complaint that whites get paid more than blacks and non-Hispanics get paid more than Hispanics. But are these assertions true?
Excerpt: Occupy Wall Street's pathetic first birthday last week confirmed that the longstanding reports of the movement's death have not, in fact, been exaggerated. So why are we keeping it alive by talking incessantly about income inequality instead of focusing on what really matters -- opportunity and upward mobility? All this huffing and puffing about widening income gaps -- coupled with strident calls for wealth redistribution -- detracts from the urgent need to shore up our threatened American Dream and develop an opportunity agenda. The nation's attention should be squarely focused on expanding everyone's prospects -- especially those at the bottom who most need a hand up and a way out.

Worth Reading: How Quantitative Easing Helps the Rich and Soaks the Rest of Us: And why the Occupy movement should be up in arms. By Anthony Randazzo
Excerpt: The problem is that investing in commodities can push up prices on things like gas, meat (because of feed corn prices), bread (because of wheat prices), and even orange juice. There certainly have been other contributors to commodities prices going up, but if the Fed has boosted stocks, they've boosted commodities too. So not only are the cronies gaining from quantitative easing, there is a negative wealth effect too. The cronyism doesn’t end there.

Quote from Dennis Miller 
Bibi's agent just got him booked on "The View" so he can talk to President Obama about the threats to the world at least during commercials. (If Netanyahu or any other world leader wants to talk issues with President Obama between now and November 6, he better hold a Dem fund raiser. ~Bob.)

Apple supplier halts China factory after violence
Excerpt: The company that makes Apple's iPhones suspended production at a factory in China on Monday after a brawl by as many as 2,000 employees at a dormitory injured 40 people. (Fight at one of Apple's slave labor camps. –Larry.)

Excerpt: Those positions encompass issues as wide-ranging as gun control, universal health care and welfare reform. Obama also said he viewed welfare recipients and “the working poor” as “a majority coalition” that could be mobilized to help advance progressive policies and elect their champions. (Thus bleeding the productive until society collapses in fiscal ruin. We are on the way. ~Bob.)

Obama's Unfulfilled Promise Change. By Michael Barone
Excerpt: "The most important lesson I've learned is that you can't change Washington from the inside," Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday on the Spanish-language Univision network. "You can only change it from the outside." A better way to put it is that Barack Obama has proved he can't change Washington from the inside.

Examiner Editorial: It's official: Obama raises taxes on the middle class
Excerpt: On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office confirmed what we've been saying for years now: President Obama has broken his pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class. During his 2008 campaign, Obama promised Americans that he wouldn't raise taxes on anybody making less than $250,000 a year. Technically, he broke that pledge weeks after taking office, when he signed an increase in cigarette taxes, which fall disproportionately on those with lower incomes. 
Excerpt: The most poisonous aspect of this race is the Democratic Party political tactic of racial slander. The Democrats can't campaign on Obama's stellar accomplishments as president, and they can't attack Romney's qualifications. Most Americans agree with Romney's policies. So the progressives are playing the race card.

From Utah, With Love. By George Will
Excerpt: A specter is haunting the Congressional Black Caucus, the specter of integration. It is discomforting enough that the now 43-member CBC has included a Republican since 2011, when Florida's Allen West became the first Republican to join the CBC since 1997. South Carolina's Tim Scott, an African-American, also came to Congress in 2011 but declined to join. And soon a second might move in. There goes the neighborhood.

Family Protests CNN's Use of Slain Envoy's Journal
Excerpt: CNN obtained a personal journal that belonged to the slain American ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and broadcast reports based on its contents against the wishes of the Stevens family, according to relatives and State Department officials who were asked to intervene by the family. (As much as I think the contents of our slain ambassador's diary has news value, it is tough to read this and not feel a little queasy about how far CNN was willing to go: -- Jim Geraghty)


Vietnam convicts 3 bloggers for criticizing government; sentences range from 4 to 12 years
Excerpt: A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years on Monday to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses, corruption and foreign policy, intensifying a crackdown on citizens’ use of the Internet to criticize the government. (I’m still waiting for all the anti-war progressives of the 1970s to speak out against Communist oppression. Joan Baez, at least criticized their murders. ~Bob.)

Nigeria church bombed in Bauchi, Boko Haram flashpoint
Excerpt: A suicide bomber has attacked a church in Bauchi, northern Nigeria, killing at least two people and injuring 48, according to the Red Cross. (Another day, another Allahmurder, by people who didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo being peddled by the progressives. ~Bob.)

Somali MP shot dead in Mogadishu
Didn’t get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: Mustafa Haji Maalim was gunned down after leaving a mosque in the southern Waberi district following evening prayers, witnesses said.

German business optimism drops 5th month in row
Excerpt: Business optimism in Germany fell for the fifth month in a row, a closely-watched survey showed Monday, in another sign that Europe's debt crisis is weighing on the continent's largest economy. (Leading the Dow to drop. ~Bob.)

Antonio Trejo, Honduras rights lawyer, killed at wedding
Excerpt: A human rights group in Honduras says a prominent lawyer who represented peasants in disputes with large land owners has been killed. Antonio Trejo was shot dead by unknown gunmen after walking outside the church, where he was attending a wedding, to answer a phone call.

The Sino Stranglehold: How badly could the Chinese protests hurt Japan's economy? By June Teufel Dreyer 
Excerpt: Anti-Japanese riots aren't a new phenomenon in China, but the ongoing demonstrations across the country have surpassed previous outbreaks in both their extensiveness -- over a hundred cities -- and their perfervid declarations. One banner, hung over an Audi dealership, declared that the Japanese should be exterminated; another called for a nuclear strike on Tokyo; a woman's hospital featured a neon sign announcing that Japanese females would absolutely not be treated. 

Excerpt: By Fantasy House I do not mean — or rather only mean — Barack Obama’s La-La land in which Austrians speak Austrian, Hawaii is in Asia, Afghans speak Arabic, the Maldives lie off Argentina, there are seven additional states, servicemen are zombie corpse-men, and Kansas twisters kill 10,000 at a time. Rather I refer to the fantasies that Obama employs to deal with a very real world he inhabits. The president just told Univision that you “cannot change Washington from the inside.” 

Most Decorated Living U.S. Military Man Speaks Out: Medal of Honor hero reveals humanitarianism of flyboys in Vietnam. By Kevin Deanna
Excerpt: WND books is reissuing “Dead Men Flying – Victory in Viet Nam, The Legend of Dust Off: America’s Battlefield Angels,” by Gen. Patrick Henry Brady and his daughter, Capt. Meghan Brady Smith. Gen. Brady, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, contends that America’s greatest victory in Vietnam was humanitarianism.

Forget About Providers, What Do Doctors Think of Obamacare?
Excerpt: According to an August survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, three-quarters of hospitals have expressed no interest in forming Accountable Care Organizations, the integrated networks of healthcare providers that are at the heart of Obamacare’s efforts to coordinate care for Medicare patients across the healthcare system, eliminate waste, and control costs. Hospitals and doctors are revolting because ACOs saddle them with significant financial risks and substantial new administrative burdens. 

Tweet from @blackrepublican
I wonder when President Obama is going to tell the Middle East to stop clinging to their “guns and religion?”

Excerpt: The Nazi Aryan movement of the 30's and 40's was falsely based on the idea that the only hope for the world was for a "superior race" to take control of the world. This plague was based on the false assumption that one class of people are superior and need not prove it for it to be so. Sadly, for a century, many Americans also held this view about their fellow African Americans. In an ironic and strange twist of fate a huge swath of the American Black population seems to have adopted the Aryan philosophy. It seems that millions of Blacks today now believe that, just for the fact of being born Black, they are somehow immune from living within the rules of a modern civilized society.

Excerpt: “Every Marine is a rifleman,” Lightfoot said. “Marines of every military occupational specialty in the squadron, to include AH-1W and UH-1Y aircraft mechanics, dropped their wrenches and grabbed their rifles to defend the HMLA-469 compound from a well-armed enemy. Through the coordinated use of ground and aerial delivered fires, in danger-close proximity to friendly forces, all enemy insurgents were killed or captured. I am extremely proud to serve with such high caliber men and women.” (Although not called upon to do it on a regular basis, Marines assigned to the Air Wing are still Marines, and they can still do what Marines do best...run to the sound of the gun, engage with and defeat the enemy. I'm extremely proud of the way the Marines responded to this attack. I credit their actions to their instinct to recall their training at Parris Island and San Diego. Semper Fidelis. --MasterGuns)

Did Obama Know the Embassy Attacks Were Coming? By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: The reason that Obama and his associates have done everything possible to avoid describing the attack on the Benghazi consulate as a planned terrorist operation is because the difference between a spontaneous attack and a planned attack is that the failure to prevent a planned attack represents a serious intelligence failure. Was the planned attack on the Benghazi consulate truly unknown ahead of time or was it a known element that was not taken seriously enough and allowed to go forward for political reasons?

Cultures of Honor. By Janice Fiamengo 
Excerpt: Review of Aruna Papp and Barbara Kay, Unworthy Creature: A Punjabi Daughter’s Memoir on Honour, Shame and Love. St. Catharines: Freedom Press, 2012. One of the ironies of our age is that the North American women who successfully lobbied over the past 30 years to change the public perception of marriage, sexual assault, and abortion should have shown themselves so pusillanimous and divided over the suffering of non-Western women. 

Prophet film protesters clash with Greek police
Excerpt: Banners were displayed in English, denouncing the film and called on the U.S. to hang the filmmaker. One told President Barack Obama "we are all with Osama," referring to Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May 2011. (So, BO, how’s that foreign policy reset, Muslim outreach and support for the Arab Spring working out for us? ~Bob.)

Christian Families in North Sinai Face Threats, Refuse To Leave
Excerpt: Christian residents of Egyptian border towns Rafah and Al-Arish have so far refused to leave the city, as a local church had advised, after they received leaflets containing messages threatening to blow up their property if they do not leave within 48 hours. (I’m sure Obama will deliver them a stern “respect for all religions” message when he finishes his grueling fund-raising tour. ~Bob.)

Iran threatens attacks on US bases in event of war. By Ali Akbar Dareini
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-threatens-attacks-us-bases-event-war-143141162.html
Excerpt: A senior commander in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran will target U.S. bases in the region in the event of war with Israel, raising the prospect of a broader conflict that would force other countries to get involved, Iranian state television reported Sunday. (Really? They have been threatening us ever since "Jimma" Carter set up the mullahs in 1979. If we had a real president, he would tell those perpetually belligerent pricks that if one U.S. serviceman is killed, or if they attack one U.S. base, the country of Iran will just be a smoldering, radioactive memory. But, we don't have a real president. –Larry W.)

'Barack & Hillary at the movies.' By Mark Steyn
Excerpt: On the latter point, after a week and a half of peddling an utterly false narrative of what happened in Libya, the United States government is apparently beginning to discern that there are limits to what even Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice can say with a straight face. The official line – that the slaughter of American officials was some sort of improvised movie review that got a little out of hand – is now in the process of modification to something bearing a less patently absurd relationship to what actually happened. That should not make any more forgivable the grotesque damage that the administration has done to the bedrock principle of civilized society: freedom of speech.

Top Ten Changes Obama Made in His First Four Years. By Joel B. Pollak 
Excerpt: Stimulus, Feb. 2009 In 2008, Barack Obama promised to pass a $50 billion stimulus to help the faltering U.S. economy. Instead, he passed a $862 billion spending spree that funneled cash to state governments, Solyndra-type cronies, and Democrat special interests--and which sent federal deficits and debts to previously unimaginable levels. Now Obama promises (again!) to make cuts, but has no plan to curb long-term deficits.

Getting folks registered
November 6, 2012, may very well be the most important election of our lifetimes. We only have 15 days left to register folks to vote in Texas. In other states you may have a few more days or in some you may have already passed the deadline. Would you please check your state's information and share it with others and please forward this email to all on your list. If the election were held today, I believe that Obama would win by about five points. If that's what you want then do nothing. Otherwise let's not go down without a fight. The next forty-three days are critical. Get 'em registered, educated, and turn out the vote! Semper Fi, Mac

Elizabeth Warren Admits She Is Not Licensed to Practice Law in Massachusetts. By Rick Moran
Excerpt: This is some extraordinary detective work performed by Legal Insurrection's William Jacobson. Digging through voluminous records and following up with calls to pertinent licensing agencies, Jacobson has made the shocking discovery that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is not licensed to practice law in the state of Massachusetts. The fact that Warren used her Harvard Law School office to dispense legal advice, write briefs, and represent clients -- all activities that meet the legal definition of "practicing law" -- is also problematic, as Jacobsen explains: (The Bar will go after a secretary providing draft wills, but won’t have the guts to touch this. ~Bob.)

Fact Check: Obama Lies About Responsibility for Deficit. By Joel B. Pollak
Excerpt: Yesterday, President Barack Obama told CBS News’60 Minutes that “ninety percent” of the reason the federal budget deficit has risen dramatically under his administration is because of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Not only is that a baldfaced lie—Obama borrowed more money in less than four years than Bush did in eight--but it is a lie that many in the media want to believe, as Andrew Sullivan of Newsweek demonstrates.

Put down the peanut butter! Trader Joe's recalled their house brand
Excerpt: Trader Joe’s is recalling its house brand of peanut butter over fears of possible salmonella contamination. The voluntary recall of Trader Joe’s Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter was announced Friday on the Monrovia-based company’s website. No specific lot numbers are available.

An Obamacare Primer: How top-down statist healthcare is bad for doctors and patients. By Blair Rhode, M.D.
Excerpt: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law in March 2010. With its passage, it set in motion fundamental changes to how healthcare is organized and reimbursed. The PPACA (a.k.a. Obamacare) was designed to shift financial risk to providers and move away from the traditional fee-for-service model. How? Obamacare sets up financial incentives toward institutions (read: hospitals) that manage salaried doctors and away from private practice physicians. If you don’t believe me, look where new graduates are going. A recent American Medical Association survey projected that 60% of physicians would be salaried employees by 2012.

Russia still an evil empire?
WND is stirring the coals of the cold war with these 2 articles linked below. The question is: If this is true, and it may be, then whom do you mistrust more, the US government or the Russians? The Russian author of the first article actually uses the term "new world order" in a positive way. I am not buying that. If there is a revived evil empire, then it is one out of two, and the US, in its current metamorphosis, is the other. The entire West is responsible for the Arab spring that has now exploded. The Russians could not have done more than "we" have to create this chaos. I hope WND is aware of this and writes future articles to balance this out. --Don Hank
The second article explains the serious threat of the Eurasian empire: 

CBS Omits Clip From Broadcast Of Obama Admitting His Campaign Has Gone ‘Overboard’ & Made Campaign Ad ‘Mistakes
Excerpt: It’s an undisputed fact that the American people have a high level of distrust for the mainstream media — just look at the startling Gallup numbers released last week. A recent decision by CBS News to omit a portion of an interview with President Barack Obama in which he admitted mistakes and blunders in campaign ads is likely to add to the lack of public confidence in mainstream outlets.

Obama: Screw National Security, I Have An Election To Win
Excerpt: On Wednesday I tweeted that nobody would any longer be calling for the US prison at Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) to close down. I wrote it in response to reports that one of the attackers of the US embassy in Libya last Tuesday on the anniversary of 9/11 was a former detainee at that prison. In a sane country I would have been correct. But I really ought to have learned my lesson by now never to be shocked by the Obama administration. It seems I let my guard down, however, and I experience shock yet again.

Fox Shows Us Officials Stay In Seats For Ahmadinejad's Speech, Israel Walks Out
My only Question is Why did We stay? @biasedgirl

Report: Ahmadinejad to Meet with Occupy Wall Street. By Daniel Halper
Excerpt: A report today in an official outlet of the Iranian regime claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, will meet with members of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Ahmadinejad is currently in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, where these reported meetings will take place. (Birds of the “I hate America” feather, flocking together. ~Bob.)

In New York, defiant Ahmadinejad says Israel will be "eliminated." By Louis Charbonneau
Juden Raus! ~Bob. Excerpt: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadon Monday disregarded a U.N. warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric and declared ahead of the annual General Assembly session that Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated."

Nazi Board Games
Perfect gift for the Progressive Anti-Semite in your life. ~Bob

Adelson says he’ll do ‘whatever it takes’ to defeat Obama
Excerpt: Adelson has already given as much as $70 million in this presidential election, “and he plans to spend more — perhaps as much as $100 million — by Election Day,” Politico notes. Adelson is willing to do “whatever it takes” to defeat President Barack Obama, he said. “I don’t believe one person should influence an election. So, I suppose you’ll ask me, ‘How come I’m doing it?’ Because other single people influence elections.”

Wake Up, Mainstream Media: If Tide Is Shifting, It’s in Romney’s Direction: Team Obama is cracking up at crunch time. By Tom Blumer
Excerpt: President Barack Obama’s free ride with enough of the disengaged portion of the electorate to matter may finally be coming to an end.
A look at the top two presidential election polls listed at Real Clear Politics on Sunday morning showed the race between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a dead heat. (I tend not to believe any of the wishful thinking “my guy is going to whip your guy” pieces from either side. Still not decided, IMHO. ~Bob.)

Murdered Libyan ambassador Chris Stevens is a “bump in the road,” says Greatest President in History
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/24/murdered-libyan-ambassador-chris-stevens-is-a-bump-in-the-road-says-greatest-president-in-history/#ixzz27PtG16Yt
Excerpt: If you’re more offended by Romney saying “47%” than Obama saying our murdered ambassador is a “bump in the road,” #YouMightBeALiberal.

DNC Literally in Hock to SEIU
Excerpt: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) owes at least $8 million to a bank owned by one of the largest unions in the country, according to the committee’s most recent financial report. … Amalgamated Bank, often described as “America’s Labor Bank,” is a national entity, the majority of which is owned by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a politically active union with deep ties to the Democratic Party. (SEIU counting on a big ROI—from you. ~bob.)

Video: Case Closed: If Moderate Voters See This Video, It’s Over for Obama
Obama--what he says, what he does: 13 minutes comparing and contrasting what Obama said he would do versus what he has done.

States make fake IDs quick and easy: Feds test forged birth certificates
Federal investigators were able to get fraudulent driver’s licenses in all three states where they tried, according to a report released Friday that shows continued problems with states’ ID programs more than 11 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks highlighted the problem. (So much for voter ID. ~Bob.)

Democrat Admits The Media Are “Taking Marching Orders From Obama Administration”
http://clashdaily.com/2012/09/democrat-admits-the-media-are-taking-marching-orders-from-obama-administration/#ixzz27Pxx1a5E
In other breaking news, Sun Rises in East. ~Bob.

David Axelrod in 05, adding three trillion to the deficit in three years is "madness" and a "massive debt and deficit."

Satire: Media Having Trouble Finding Right Angle On Obama's Double-Homicide
Onion mocks pro-Obama media bias. For people who don’t get satire, this IS NOT TRUE. ~Bob. Excerpt: More than a week after President Barack Obama's cold-blooded killing of a local couple, members of the American news media admitted Tuesday that they were still trying to find the best angle for covering the gruesome crime. "I know there's a story in there somewhere," said Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, referring to Obama's home invasion and execution-style slaying of Jeff and Sue Finowicz on Apr. 8.

As the World Burns - Continuing Season 4 of the Obama Soap Opera
Excerpt: For the last week, the election debate has been focused on the existential question of how much impact will result from Mitt Romney's "47%" remark. The campaign suffers from a malaise that can only be cured by a real crisis such as Obama replacing Joe Biden with Paris Hilton or Dave Letterman.

The UN is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. We need to withdraw from the UN and kick out of New York City. (Maybe a President Alan West would have the nerve. ~Bob.)

Uncertainty and unemployment: Leadership vacuum in Washington is driving down the economy
Excerpt: A malaise has fallen over the economy. At a time when we should have fully recovered from the Great Recession, we’re still 4 million jobs short of where we were just a few years ago. Doubts about economic policy, particularly forthcoming changes in taxes, has turned this “recovery” into a job loser. If there’s one thing investors and employers hate, it’s not knowing what lies ahead.

Ike first black president?

The Week That Was: 2012-09-22 (September 22, 2012)
Excerpt: In his written testimony he summarized the significant scientific issues involve(d). … It can be paraphrased as follows 1) there is nothing unusual about current extreme weather events; 2) the climate models are not supported by observations and Arctic ice conditions are not meaningful unless discussed in light of Antarctic ice conditions; 3) recent research showing biases in surface data make the surface data sets of limited value; 4) the claimed consensus reports are murky and climate science funding is highly biased; and 5) CO2 is plant food and increasing CO2 benefits humanity. (The Science and Environmental Policy Project is a non-profit group that puts out a compilation of news stories concerning climate and energy issues from around the world every week. As usual, the excerpt is from editor Ken Haapala’s summary at the beginning of it. There are many good articles as always. The numbered articles are republished in full at the end of the week’s compilation. Ron P.)

Silent Spring at 50: The False Crises of Rachel Carson
Excerpt: While Carson was not the first to write about the dangers of pesticides or to sound environmental alarms, her writing style and ability to reach out to a broad audience allowed her to capture and retain the attention of the public. Yet this iconic book, hardly scrutinized over the decades, substituted sensationalism for fact and apocalyptic pronouncements for genuine knowledge. … Carson made little effort to provide a balanced perspective and consistently ignored key evidence that would have contradicted her work. (Given the millions of kids dead of Malaria due to the DDT ban, I rank her fourth among 20th century mass murders, behind, in order, Mao, Stalin and Hitler. But she is gaining. ~Bob.)

Axelrod Admits Obama Doesn't Have a Plan to Keep Social Security from Going Bankrupt. By John McCormack
Excerpt: This morning on MSNBC, Obama adviser David Axelrod scoffed at the notion the president should actually have a plan to save Social Security from bankruptcy: 

Excerpt: No, you weren't dreaming when you read the statement of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, as homicidal mobs raged outside its doors on 9/11. "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims - as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions." Apparently, the world's only superpower is now in the business of kissing the boo-boos of murderous Muslims aggrieved by our Constitution. And, of course, handing out $2-billion hankies of foreign aid to wipe away their precious little tears of America-induced rage.

1 comment:

  1. Bob, thanks for your continuing service to an America that increasing seems not to appreciate it. I still do.

    ReplyDelete